18 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 18 weeks

Size of baby: Baby H is the size of a bell pepper (my favorite!). He/she is 5 1/2 inches long and about 7 ounces. Little peanut!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 5 pounds as of this morning and I am FEELING IT.

Maternity Clothes: No, but I am definitely rubber banding my pants and using those Bella Bands all the time. I need to get some cute maternity stuff but WHERE? Moms, help a sister out.
Gender: We find out next Wednesday! Only one more update before we know this information. :)

Movement: Baby Center says that the baby is busy flexing it's arms and legs. I've felt some weird stuff but still nothing that I've been able to conclusively pinpoint as the baby.

Sleep: I'm getting great sleep, but I go to bed really early... around 9:00 pm.

What I miss: Still sushi... always sushi.

Cravings: Juice-- lots of it and any kind without pulp. I loooove Simply Lemonade.

Symptoms: I've only thrown up once in the last 2 weeks! HOORAY!

Best Moment this week: Registering and going to our first birth class. Both were so much fun!

We registered on Sunday at Target and Babies R' Us. We ended up finishing the registry online because some of the items we wanted weren't in stock. My friend, Emily, went with us since she had her first baby in April. She was extremely helpful, telling us what she loved and what she didn't use as much. Twitter and Facebook were also great places to get feedback on things that worked for different people. We wanted to register before we know what we're having so that we weren't super partial to girl or boy things-- we need these things to last! I'm really pleased with the registry and what is great is that you can add or take away from them online! Tyler got to man the registry "gun", so he was a happy camper. This was before we left to meet Em at Target! I was a little more excited than Tyler, but I think that's to be expected. :)

We also started our birth class on Monday nights. We are going to be having the baby in a hospital with a doctor but using the Bradley Method. The Bradley Method is basically husband coached child birth without any drugs or interventions. Obviously, if the baby or I were in immediate danger, we won't hesitate to get it out as quickly as possible, but other than an emergency situation, we won't have any interventions in this birth. You can tell me I'm crazy (don't worry, plenty of people already have), but I know that this is best for us and our family. Every mother is entitled to have the type of birth that she wants and feels is best for her baby-- me included! I'm thrilled about our birth class and our teacher, Tracy. She was Dana's Bradley teacher and came very highly recommended. Tracy had all four of her children using the Bradley method and countless others have too, so I know it can be done! The pros of having a natural birth far outweigh the cons of all the pain. All in all, I'm really looking forward to the birth of this baby. I know it will HURT, but in the end I'll be holding my sweet baby and it will all be worth it!

Oh, and before I forget, my darling little Malachi turns one today! I can't believe it's been a year since this boy came into the world. I absolutely adore this little man and he makes me so excited to be a momma. Happy birthday, sweet boy! I love you!

(Please excuse the poor quality of this cell phone picture, but it's one of my favorites!)

Happy Wednesday!